I have been reading quite a few posts about grit, but I haven't found any that answers my question: How long does the grit remain in the chicken? I have been putting a little grit with the scratch every time I treat the chickens. (About twice a week.) Is it necessary to put out grit that often?
Charlie
Of course, it stays in the chicken until it gets ground away to nothing.
But I would love to know how long a teaspoon of medium granite grit will last inside the chicken that is eating a pelleted feed. Or a whole grain feed. You know, before it gets ground away. I wonder if one of those airport security machines could be used to look inside our chickens to see if their gizzard has rocks in it or not. You'd think that pretty soon there would be a surplus of those on the market ... maybe.
I know that if the chickens aren't leaving any in their feeder, then you aren't giving them too much because a few years back I was feeding a few roosters (adults) by the two-feeder method (mash and whole grains). I didn't have quite the right space for another feeder full of grit for them, so I would just pour a bunch of grit in with the whole grains. Like maybe 2 cups of grit and 3 gallons of whole grains. As the feed was eaten, I could see that they were leaving the grit in the bottom of the feeder and had eaten around the grit. So for my roosters in that situation, that was more grit than they needed, but they were smart enough not to overeat even though the grit was mixed in with the whole grain. I wouldn't do that with any chickens that were less than 6 months old, though, just for the record.
So, in your situation, my guess would be that if they aren't leaving any grit in their feeder, then you aren't feeding them too much grit, yet.
As you probably know, a dish full of grit free choice is usually considered "best practice," though, so that adult chickens can have free choice access to the grit at all times. The same is usually considered best practice for the oyster shell, too, for layers. I really want one of those free choice wall feeders that you can put oyster shell and grit in, but it's over $120 plus s&h!
I know it's worth it, but our money tree isn't bearing much fruit this season.
